Federal water resources planning philosophy has undergone a lengthy evolution with a number of refinements in the past decade to encompass environmental laws and the political philosophy of the new Federalism. Diverse methods for incorporating intangible social and environmental considerations into a planning-decision framework which emphasizes economic benefits and costs have been developed. Some have been derived by economists, while others have been developed by workers in the new field of multiobjective analysis. A strategy for selecting and using such models is suggested. Four criteria help in selecting evaluation models: appropriateness, ease of use, validity and sensitivity of decisions to choice of method.